December 27, 2015
Time Flies (or I'm a horrible at staying on top of my blog)!
In my life as a mom I am fully aware that time flies, especially when you aren't paying attention. Better yet when I have neglected to update my blog for 5 years, 5 months, and 8 days. Today I was sitting here thinking about the New Year and the goals I want to accomplish when I realized that I really wanted to start blogging again. So off I went to get a new blog site and realized that there was still a lot I wanted to say about my life as a mom.
So what’s been happening for the last 5 years, 5 months, and 8 days you ask, well….... We now have 7 sons-in-law and 9 grandchildren with 2 more due in January and February for a start. We also have several college graduates, soon to be graduates, and college students. Brandt is working for Boeing and I’m in an doctoral internship for clinical psychology along with writing my dissertation.
Are we still busy you might ask, well of course! We now only have the two little girls at home full time but they keep us on our toes and are always ready to add some spice to our day. Lyra turned 12 years old today and is becoming a beautiful young woman. Her dad decided to put her in braces to “ruin her looks” for a couple of years but I don’t think he succeeded very well. She loves reading and horses. She’s developing her talents in writing, drawing, playing the piano, flute, and violin.
Dawniella turned 8 this November. She’s a funny mixture of sweet baby girl and a “know-it-all” brat that comes with being the baby of 13 kids. She’s a super smart kid with an insight on the world that more times than not cause us to miss a step when she shares those insights. She’s not that fond of reading (yet) because it interferes with her “social” side but we’re working on that much to her dislike. Piano and actually turning in her homework are the bane of her existence in the 2nd grade but she’s finding that mom and dad are much easier to get along with when she is RESPONSIBLE about getting things done.
2016 is just around the corner and I’m sure it will bring new challenges, surprises, and dreams in my life as a mom, but with the love of family and the light of the gospel I believe that we can handle anything, (including actually keeping up with my blog). Happy New Year everyone.
July 19, 2010
The Runaway Mom Saga Part 2
Just to give you an idea where I'm at and what I'm doing!
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| Free slideshow design made with Smilebox |
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| Free slideshow generated with Smilebox |
July 14, 2010
Running Away from Home--For Real
In my life as a mom, I have often threatened that I was going to run away from home, so I finally did! I think I’ve mentioned that I am studying to be a clinical psychologist through an online program. As part of that program I have to spend the sometime in face-to-face contact with the university faculty, this is part of what is called A Year in Residency (AYR). I started my AYR this week in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Now for those of you that know me well, you’ll know that I rarely go very far without my children, so this adventure is a huge change/challenge/adventure for all of us.
Our adventure started about 3 months ago when I was approved to attend this AYR. The first hurdle was what to do with all the kids while I was gone, which we solved by rearranging some of the summer schedule to send some of the kids to the other parents and then planning for Adara, Keturah, and a good friend to take care of Lyra and Dawniella. The first monkey wrench came when Keturah had to work night shift, but it worked out when we were asked if Lyra could attend summer school to boost here reading a little. With all that worked out, I relaxed and started planning my trip, which brought on the next stressor flying to Minneapolis.
Understand I have flown once on a little plane with Dawniella when she had RSV. I was too worried about her to worry about anything else. This however was different. I was going to have to navigate the Sea-Tac airport, get on a plane, and fly 4 hours to Minneapolis, navigate the airport in Minneapolis, and get from the airport to my dorm all by myself. Talk about freaking out! I survived it and just so Andrew and Lyra know, not only didn’t the plane crash (he was convinced that it would), but I actually made it off the plane and to my dorm with only the loss of a suitcase wheel.
So far, Minneapolis is great or at least what I’ve seen of it, the Mississippi River, where I walk across a bridge to get to class every day, my dorm room, the cafeteria, and the classrooms on the University campus. We’re in class from 8 am to 5 pm, and then have an evening session from 7 pm to 9 pm depending on if it’s an area of interest to you. During all of this, we still have homework to do, as well. Most days I’ve come back to the room and dropped just because of the amount of information we’re getting each day and needing to process it. It’s fun, exciting, and overwhelming all at the same time.
Taken out of the plane window sitting on the ground in Seattle.
Pictures of the inside of the plane.
Pictures taken out of the plane window.
All settled in my dorm room.
The Mississippi River…these are taken from a bridge I walk across every day, usually a couple of times a day.
So far, on this trip, I’ve met some very interesting people and seen some interesting sights but this was perhaps the more interesting one so far.
This is a tree just off the bridge over the river and I have no clue as to why the shoes are in the tree but it’s really cool. If someone knows, I would love to find out why they're there.
Our adventure started about 3 months ago when I was approved to attend this AYR. The first hurdle was what to do with all the kids while I was gone, which we solved by rearranging some of the summer schedule to send some of the kids to the other parents and then planning for Adara, Keturah, and a good friend to take care of Lyra and Dawniella. The first monkey wrench came when Keturah had to work night shift, but it worked out when we were asked if Lyra could attend summer school to boost here reading a little. With all that worked out, I relaxed and started planning my trip, which brought on the next stressor flying to Minneapolis.
Understand I have flown once on a little plane with Dawniella when she had RSV. I was too worried about her to worry about anything else. This however was different. I was going to have to navigate the Sea-Tac airport, get on a plane, and fly 4 hours to Minneapolis, navigate the airport in Minneapolis, and get from the airport to my dorm all by myself. Talk about freaking out! I survived it and just so Andrew and Lyra know, not only didn’t the plane crash (he was convinced that it would), but I actually made it off the plane and to my dorm with only the loss of a suitcase wheel.
So far, Minneapolis is great or at least what I’ve seen of it, the Mississippi River, where I walk across a bridge to get to class every day, my dorm room, the cafeteria, and the classrooms on the University campus. We’re in class from 8 am to 5 pm, and then have an evening session from 7 pm to 9 pm depending on if it’s an area of interest to you. During all of this, we still have homework to do, as well. Most days I’ve come back to the room and dropped just because of the amount of information we’re getting each day and needing to process it. It’s fun, exciting, and overwhelming all at the same time.
Taken out of the plane window sitting on the ground in Seattle.
Pictures of the inside of the plane.
Pictures taken out of the plane window.
All settled in my dorm room.
The Mississippi River…these are taken from a bridge I walk across every day, usually a couple of times a day.
So far, on this trip, I’ve met some very interesting people and seen some interesting sights but this was perhaps the more interesting one so far.
This is a tree just off the bridge over the river and I have no clue as to why the shoes are in the tree but it’s really cool. If someone knows, I would love to find out why they're there.
March 28, 2010
My Life in a construction zone
I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd get you some quick pictures until I have time to really write. Two of the slide shows are about my two youngest, Lyra and Dawniella, and the other one is Adara's Senior project. She's decided to redecorate the little girl's room so we've been a temporary construction zone for a couple months. This week is the real push to get it finished so stay tuned for more.
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| This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox |
October 7, 2009
Catching Up!
In my life as a mom, it is always interesting when life brings changes to our house because it is never on a small scale we usually do things much larger and this summer and fall has brought us many changes.
Nicole has wanted to come live with me for some time now and this fall she’s gotten her chance. She’s now attending Royal Middle School as an 8th grader, playing volleyball, and generally being a teenage girl. For those of you who know Dewayne and Carolyn Winder, their daughter and her family moved in next door in August and have a daughter Nicole’s age. McKenna and Nicole have become attached at the hip along with their friend Brea and a few others from school, so my house is now full of teenage girls and all the fun that brings.
Andrew loves the 4th grade but is finding it much harder than he thought it would be because he has to be RESPONSIBLE for his homework now. For a kid whose brains would get lost if they weren’t inside his head this has been a rude awakening but for mom it’s been wonderful. He’s enjoying playing football, well after he quit complaining that his head hurting from hitting people. He’s also finding he’s one of the biggest guys on the team. Cub Scouts and the Bear den are also joys in his life, but he’s a little concerned because I’m not his leader this year.
Lyra is our kindergartner and I’m so glad that she’s finally in school. The most important thing in her life right now is that she is learning to read. Every night she comes home and finds homework to do, even if she doesn’t have any, because she’s convinced that if she doesn’t do homework she’s going to fail kindergarten. She told me the other day that she was going to practice her alphabet until she got it perfect. Hopefully we can keep that attitude up until she graduates from high school! Our other big news is a missing tooth, which Lyra is very proud of.
Dawniella started at the first “real” daycare she’s attended since she was born. Up until now, I’ve had her with a friend of the family so she was only with one or two other kids at a time and usually one of those was her sister. She’s loving the daycare and when we get there, I have to be careful where I park because as soon as I get her out of her car seat she runs to the door of the daycare. Her favorite new words are go, now, play, and truck (which sounds a lot like duck). She’s figured out that daddy is driving a truck and every semi we see she asks about daddy. We’ve also sort of started potty training, which mommy is thrilled about, Dawniella not so much.
Brandt is still driving potato truck, while it isn’t a job he wants long term because of the dirt and long hours, he is enjoying the change of being out of the house. He has been stuck a few times and has decided if he’s going to be driving as a career it is going to be on pavement instead of in the fields. I’m spending my time dealing with kids, being the webelos leader, homework, genealogy, and a whole lot of substitute teaching. Life all round is good and we’re keeping busy. Both Brandt and I are praying that he’ll find a full time job soon, but the Lord has blessed us and we appreciate all he’s done for us these past few months.
Nicole has wanted to come live with me for some time now and this fall she’s gotten her chance. She’s now attending Royal Middle School as an 8th grader, playing volleyball, and generally being a teenage girl. For those of you who know Dewayne and Carolyn Winder, their daughter and her family moved in next door in August and have a daughter Nicole’s age. McKenna and Nicole have become attached at the hip along with their friend Brea and a few others from school, so my house is now full of teenage girls and all the fun that brings.
Andrew loves the 4th grade but is finding it much harder than he thought it would be because he has to be RESPONSIBLE for his homework now. For a kid whose brains would get lost if they weren’t inside his head this has been a rude awakening but for mom it’s been wonderful. He’s enjoying playing football, well after he quit complaining that his head hurting from hitting people. He’s also finding he’s one of the biggest guys on the team. Cub Scouts and the Bear den are also joys in his life, but he’s a little concerned because I’m not his leader this year.
Lyra is our kindergartner and I’m so glad that she’s finally in school. The most important thing in her life right now is that she is learning to read. Every night she comes home and finds homework to do, even if she doesn’t have any, because she’s convinced that if she doesn’t do homework she’s going to fail kindergarten. She told me the other day that she was going to practice her alphabet until she got it perfect. Hopefully we can keep that attitude up until she graduates from high school! Our other big news is a missing tooth, which Lyra is very proud of.
Dawniella started at the first “real” daycare she’s attended since she was born. Up until now, I’ve had her with a friend of the family so she was only with one or two other kids at a time and usually one of those was her sister. She’s loving the daycare and when we get there, I have to be careful where I park because as soon as I get her out of her car seat she runs to the door of the daycare. Her favorite new words are go, now, play, and truck (which sounds a lot like duck). She’s figured out that daddy is driving a truck and every semi we see she asks about daddy. We’ve also sort of started potty training, which mommy is thrilled about, Dawniella not so much.
Brandt is still driving potato truck, while it isn’t a job he wants long term because of the dirt and long hours, he is enjoying the change of being out of the house. He has been stuck a few times and has decided if he’s going to be driving as a career it is going to be on pavement instead of in the fields. I’m spending my time dealing with kids, being the webelos leader, homework, genealogy, and a whole lot of substitute teaching. Life all round is good and we’re keeping busy. Both Brandt and I are praying that he’ll find a full time job soon, but the Lord has blessed us and we appreciate all he’s done for us these past few months.
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